Feathered Stone
by The Threat
Summary: Moving on from 'War of the Obstinates', this story allows everyone's favorite duo to meet with everyone's worst nightmare.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" is owned by the BBC, and "Wallace & Gromit" is owned by Aardman. The story's narrator is mine.

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><p>Having just survived another adventure with the Doctor, I re-entered the Tardis. Or at least I intended to, but as I entered, I spotted somebody. There was something about her, but I didn't have a lot of time to figure out what it was, as the Doctor interrupted my gaze.<p>

"Go on, then, in you go." he said.

I shook my head, as if waking up, and entered the Tardis.

Inside, the Doctor pressed all the necessary buttons for the Tardis to take off, and eventually we were... wherever it is that the Tardis goes as it travels.

"So, looking at fair ladies, weren't you?" the Doctor asked.

I didn't understand what he meant at first, but then I realized why he asked: "Not really. Even if I was, anyone in their twenties here would be old enough to be my mother, chronologically speaking... that's it!"

The Doctor was confused: "I'm sorry, I'm not following you."

"That woman I saw." I said, "There was something familiar about her, but I couldn't figure out what it was."

"You probably met her older self in your time." the Doctor explained.

"No, I didn't." I said.

This really confused the Doctor: "Then how is she familiar to you?"

"She reminded me of a girl I met before in my life." I explained.

"A girl?" this still didn't make sense to the Doctor, "Wouldn't she be too old..."

"Will you stop that!" I interrupted, "What I'm trying to say is I knew this girl, years ago. That woman reminded me of her, which was weird considering that the girl in question is a year younger than me. So that woman I saw must've been her mother."

"Ah, I see. You just noticed a family resemblance." the Doctor understood this time.

"I suppose I did." I replied.

I wasn't sure why, but that didn't quite sound as I intended it to. I wanted to sound as though I was making a joke, but I realized that I sounded sad. I'm not sure why, but remembering this girl, suddenly made me remember something else. Images flashed through my mind of events long forgotten. Events which I couldn't comprehend back then, but somehow still haunted my subconscious mind. I heard of something like this before. If there's a memory that is so bad, you don't want to think about it, you store it in the back of your mind. But all it takes is one thing, say a sound, a smell, or in this case an image, and this memory returns.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor realized something was wrong, and his talking to me helped me realize I was spacing out.

"Sorry." I apologized, "It's just that my meeting with this girl wasn't exactly... normal, to say the least."

"Really? How so?" the Doctor wondered.

"It's a long story." I said, "It happened roughly ten years ago. Back when my English wasn't quite what it is now, so I can only tell you what little I know for sure."

The Doctor seemed intrigued: "Maybe you should take it one step at a time. Why won't you start with the girl. Who was she? And what was she like?"

"Her name..." I paused to swallow, "... was Rose."


	2. Chapter 2

I was fourteen at the time, when my school organized a field trip to London. We'd spend four days exploring the city, learning its culture, its history, and however little English they taught us at school, we'd learn to use that on the field. Some would think it's fun, and under different circumstances I would too. I mean, I never liked going anywhere with my own family, so the better alternative would be to travel along with friends. Or at least it would be if I were friends with anyone from school, which I wasn't. Little did I know that this was the least of my worries.

Now you're probably wondering about accommodations. Well, rather than staying at hotels, we were taken in by host families, who were located just outside of London. Either the school couldn't afford hotels, or there was some educational purpose behind it as well. A purpose which still eludes me. But never mind. The family I was staying at were called the Sparrows. Not sure why I still remember that name. Maybe it's because the name has become quite popular in the past few years, it helped me remember at least one thing from so long ago, even if it is something that trivial.

Anyway, it was my first night, and already I couldn't sleep. Maybe it's because it was my first night away from home, from anything and anyone familiar. Maybe I was excited about the next few days. Maybe it was the fear that my roommate would kill me in my sleep (told you I didn't like anyone from school). Or maybe it were the voices from the next room down the hall that kept me awake. Whatever happened, I do remember getting out of bed and listening in on what was being discussed in the other room.

I left the bedroom, sneaked to the other room's door. I overheard two girls talking. One of them I recognized to be the family's daughter. The other, I supposed, was a friend of hers. Since they spoke very fast, and had such heavy accents (especially that friend I mentioned), I could barely make out what they were saying. I understood that Shakespeare was mentioned at some point, because apparently they were reading one of his plays, though at the mere mention at the play's name, the daughter would freak out and sing a nursery rhyme. It wasn't until much later that the friend got bored with talking about Shakespeare, so she asked if the daughter was interested in seeing something "freaky". Although I couldn't understand every word they used yet, from the tones they used I could gather that the daughter wasn't all that impressed by the word "freaky". It was around then that I must have made some kind of sound, which alerted the girls of my presence. The daughter opened her door, and found me.

"Were you _ _ _?" she used a word I didn't know, but by now I guess she said "eavesdropping".

I tried to understand her question before saying: "What?"

"Who is that?" the friend asked.

"Remember I'd have foreign visitors this week?" she explained, "This is him."

"Oh! Hi!" the friend suddenly turned to me, "I'm Rose. What's your name?"

I was still surprised because I was caught eavesdropping, confused about the question I was asked, and suddenly some girl, who didn't even know me, actually talked nicely to me. My brain needed time to process all this, so I didn't immediately give her my name as she asked.

"Aw... are you shy?" the friend, Rose, asked.

"She asked your name." the daughter repeated, "_Votre nom_."

I raised an eyebrow at that: "I'm not French."

Rose said something else, followed by: "Maybe you're interested."

"Interested?" I questioned, "What about?"

This started a little argument between the two girls, which I interrupted: "Um... I may not be sleeping, but I'm sure my roommate is. So..."

If you think this was uncharacteristically altruistic of me, considering I didn't even like my roommate, think of it as "let sleeping dogs lie".

"Good!" Rose replied, "So he won't know it if you're gone."

"Gone?" I questioned.

"There's this _ _ _ house I wanted to see." Rose explained, "I hoped (said her friend's name) would come with me, but..."

"We got school tomorrow." she said, "I can't go out tonight."

"What about you?" Rose asked me.

I'm not sure why she would ask me, a complete stranger, to visit some house which she vaguely described. Admittedly, she might not have been that vague about it, it's just that I didn't know the word she used to describe it. But even if I did, that still wouldn't explain why she was ready to just take me there. She must be either braver than any girl I knew at the time, or dumber (which considering everyone I knew, regardless of their gender, would have been quite an accomplishment).

"Since I can't sleep..." I replied, "... why not."


	3. Chapter 3

Rose and I sneaked out of the house through the back door. That door would remain unlocked for the rest of the night, so I could come back in the same way, without anyone ever knowing I was gone. Or so I hoped. But anyway, I was out, and Rose would guide me to this house. As we were going, she explained me what's so special about the house. It is said that people would enter, But never come out again. And the only reason we even know people went inside is because their bicycles, cars, or whatever means they used to get there, would be left there. A lot of stories are made up about the house, ranging from the most reasonable (like an underground lair for spies, who kill trespassers) to the most absurd. This was another time that Rose used that word, but this was the only real time I got to ask her what the word meant. She explained it means there are ghosts, or some other unexplained activity goes on in there. In other words, the word she used, but I didn't know at the time, was "haunted".

After a fifteen-minutes walk, we arrived at what looked like an abandoned house. Or rather, we arrived at the picked fence surrounding it. If the place was indeed haunted, it looked like its owner knew it and went through all the great lengths to keep others out. Rose, being either the braver or the dumber of us, started looking for a way in. But as she was about to, I stopped her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, annoyed.

"Someone's coming." I said.

She heard it then too. A car was approaching. Its headlights lit up the area, but even though we were in those lights, it didn't seem like the driver knew we were there. Nor did he seem to notice there was a closed gate on the driveway, as he drove straight through it.

"Oy! What is he doing?" Rose shouted and ran to him.

On the bright side, there was a way in now. In hindsight, that was the worst thought that could ever cross my mind, but what did I know?

Rose lashed out at the man in the car. The man in question, I'm not sure how to describe him. His accent was less understandable than Rose's, his mouth seemed twice as big as his mouth, he had literally no hair growing at all on his head (even bald men have some hair growing on their heads), even his hands appeared larger than his hand. Or maybe, because it happened ten years ago, my mind has made up some caricature version of the real man. I don't know. What I do remember was that he was carrying around some kind of machine, which looked like a fridge, a microwave oven and a vacuum cleaner all merged into one, somehow portable device. Though portable, it could only be carried around with the help of some kind of strap, allowing it to be carried on the shoulder. Still inside the car, there was the man's dog. I can't tell you what breed of dog it was, simply because I don't know the breed. What I can tell is that I remember it slapping its paw on its own forehead, shaking his head, as a reaction to Rose and that man arguing, as though he actually understood what they were talking about. I didn't know what to make of this, but I shook my own head and interrupted the two.

"Excuse me." I said, "What are you doing here?"

"_ _ _" Rose said, "What else?"

"And you aren't?" I only barely understood the man talking.

"Ahem..." I cleared my throat, "What is that thing you've got?"

"This?" the man replied, "It's an invention of mine. I hope to _ _ _ and _ _ _ ghosts with it, _ _ _."

I turned to Rose for clarification: "He's here to bust ghosts."

"Ah." I replied.

"You _ _ _ and _ _ _ here to help?" the man asked.

"Sure, now that we're here anyway, we may as well." Rose said.

The man said something which I guess was along the lines of "The more the merrier", but with that accent of his, I can't be too sure.

"Come on out, Gromit!" the man called, to which that dog I mentioned earlier reacted, by exiting the car, carrying a backpack.

"Gromit?" Rose questioned. She said something else, which I don't remember, but I guess she was making a remark about the name.

The man said something else, but again I had to turn to Rose for clarification.

"Silly, he just told you his name: Wallace." she explained, "Come to think of it, you haven't told me yours."

I was about to, but the man, Wallace, said something, which I guess was "let's go in", or something like it, so he went in, his dog, Gromit, followed almost immediately, as did Rose and I.


	4. Chapter 4

Once inside, Wallace asked something of Gromit. Thinking back, I'm not sure how I should feel about what happened next. I mean, he asked Gromit something, and the dog actually understood him. This is weird, considering that I didn't. I mean, he asked him to hand something over. I didn't understand the word he used, but since Gromit gave him a flashlight, I assumed that's what he asked. I'm pretty sure I knew the word "flashlight" at the time, so it surprises me that I couldn't understand it then, but the dog could. Either Wallace spoke such a weird form of English that (literally) only a dog could understand him, or the dog was just smarter than me.

In any case, Wallace got his flashlight, and as it turned out he had more than one, so Rose and I could carry one for ourselves. I guess he was prepared in case his first one broke. I was the first to switch on my light, and whatever it was that the light caught, it freaked Wallace out.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

It took me a while, but I eventually realized he was just in agony because I was shining the light directly in his eyes.

"Sorry." I apologized as I turned away.

This time it was my turn to scream, as I saw a body in my light. But I calmed down as soon as I recognized what it was.

"Oh come off it!" Rose said, "It's just a statue!"

"I know that now." I snapped back, "But for a moment I thought we were caught."

"Really?" Rose joked, "How many policemen do you know that dress like angels?"

"Oh, rather interesting angel, I'll say." Wallace seemed to admire it quite a bit.

Personally, I didn't see the appeal to it. I mean, yes, it was a statue of an angel, who had its hands in front of its face, as though it were crying. Some would say it's the artist's way of saying that angels cry for all the evil in the world, but that's all I can say about it. If I wanted to see a statue of an angel, I'd go to church. But I was inside a haunted house, so I expected something a little more spectacular.

"Oy!" Rose started, "We can look at art later. How about we look around?"

I don't remember Wallace's exact words, but I could tell he agreed to do that. Albeit with some protest. So he walked away from the angel, telling Gromit to follow him. It was then that I noticed the dog was wearing a miner's helmet. One of those models that has a light at the top. When did someone put that on his head? Or did the dog do that himself? I shrugged. Suddenly, I heard a crack, so I turned to look. I didn't see anything or anyone. One of the reasons some people think their houses are haunted is the fact that they hear floorboards crack, and they're mistaking hearing footsteps. I assumed it was just one of those things, so I paid no further attention to it. What I did notice, was something weird about the statue. Earlier, its hands covered its face, but this time its hands were lower, so I could see its eyes. How did that happen?

"Oy! You comin'!" Rose called to me.

I shook my head. I thought I didn't have a good enough look at the statue, so I must've missed the fact that the face wasn't completely covered.

"Yes, I'm coming." I called back, and I followed.

Once I rejoined them, Rose asked: "What's the matter?"

"I think my fantasy is overloading." was my way at the time for saying that my imagination was playing tricks on me.

Rose smiled, but I'm not sure if that was because she thought I was being silly, or for some other reason.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Wallace said, "There may still be ghosts, even if you don't believe it."

"Hey look, there's another angel!" Rose pointed down the end of the hall.

Indeed there was an angel. Although this one seemed to be standing stiff, as if on guard.

Wallace seemed to agree, as he excitedly said: "Oh, let's see what he's guarding."

He went down the hall and through the door that was on the angel's left. Rose didn't say anything, but I knew she was thinking the same as I was. Whatever was beyond that door, it was as good a place as any to start looking. So we followed, as did Gromit.


	5. Chapter 5

The room in question didn't really seem all that impressive. The wallpapers were only just hanging on the walls, there was barely any furniture save for a chair or two, and there was a glass door that lead outside. I was surprised to see that door was still in one piece. I looked outside, but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. There was another door (or rather an opening, but the door itself was long gone) that lead to the next room. I thought of looking inside that room, but... well, I'll admit that while I did come to see ghosts, I was afraid of facing them by myself. No I didn't believe they actually existed, but there was always the possibility to be wrong. Or even if not wrong, there's still the fact that house was known to be haunted, so if not ghosts, then what is it?

I was lost in that train of thought, when I heard Wallace talk: "Nothing."

I turned to look at him, but Rose spoke before I could: "Nothing what?"

"My _ _ _ was supposed to detect _ _ _." Wallace answered, "To let us know there are ghosts. I found nothing so far."

"Oh don't give up." Rose cheered him on, "I'm sure you'll find something. How about you?"

She was addressing me then. Like I said, a fear had crept upon me, but I dared not show it. I took the best course of action I could think of by cocking my head, indicating I didn't understand her.

"Never mind." Rose said.

Suddenly, there came a yelp. It took me totally by surprise, I turned around immediately. I saw Gromit, in the next room, ducked away, hiding under his helmet, while another angel statue was standing over him. Unlike the other two angels, however, this one looked more like a monster that was about to attack you. Luckily this was just a statue. If I were in Gromit's position, I'd yelp like that as well.

"Wow, your dog's afraid of a statue?" Rose laughed, though it didn't sound like mock laughter, so much as how a mother would laugh when her kid does something she considers cute.

Wallace used another word I can't remember before he said: "Gromit doesn't scare so easily."

Rose kept talking to Wallace, but while she was doing so, a thought came to mind. I came to the realization that I had never heard Gromit make any sound. Not a bark, not a growl, not a breath, not one sound you'd expect a dog to make. If what Wallace was saying is true, and Gromit doesn't scare so easily, then what could possibly be so scary that a dog, who otherwise doesn't make a sound at all, would suddenly yelp like that? As I was thinking this over, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. I turned to look through that window door, and saw something that didn't makes sense.

"Er... Rose?" I called.

"Yeah?" Rose exited that room.

"Did you look outside as well?" I asked her.

Rose made a face, as though I just asked a weird question: "Yes? Why?"

"Did you see an angel then?" I asked her.

Rose said something which I can't quite remember. Not that it matters even if I did, because somewhere mid-sentence she turned to look outside, and saw what I saw. Another angel statue was outside, yet neither Rose or I remembered there being one. At that moment, I felt something creeping up my spine, almost as if there was an animal breathing on it. Rose must have felt the same, as she turned to look. She screamed her lungs out, causing me to turn and look. Behind us, there was another angel. How did that get there without us noticing it?

"My, my." Wallace got out of that room, carrying a still frightened Gromit, "Aren't you two noisy. And how did you get that statue here?"

Rose went on a tangent about how neither of us did anything. I don't remember what drove, given that the situation was so weird that I couldn't think straight, but I thought of looking at that angel outside. I didn't know how, but somehow that window door was opened, and the angel stood on the threshold. I turned again, only to see that the angel that spooked Gromit had been turned in our direction. I warned Wallace to look behind him, which he did, and only then did he understand the seriousness of the situation. As quick as we could, the four of us left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

We returned into the corridor, so to run for the door. Needless to say that the two angels we found there the first time were gone. But just as we made it to the door, Wallace told us to stop.

"What?" Rose was the first to express discontent at that, "Why do you want us to stop?"

"Look at them!" Wallace said.

We both looked at the angels. There were three of them, all seemingly hurrying after us, except for some reason they weren't running at all. It didn't make any sense.

"Everyone, lower your _ _ _." Wallace told us.

He had used the word before, but I had forgotten what it meant. It wasn't until Rose lowered her flashlight that I knew what Wallace meant. So I lowered mine as well. That was when Wallace did the same, only to raise it again and point it back at the angels. I could be mistaking, but it seemed as though the angels moved once they were in the dark. Wallace laughed at the sight of this. He lowered his light again, then said "peek-a-boo" as he pointed them at the angels again. I'm not sure why, but for some reason these angels wouldn't move when the light was on them.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It's simple, really." Wallace said, "These statues can't move when we are looking."

Had I known the word "lame", I would have said that. I didn't, but I would venture a guess that Rose did know the word, and used it that time.

Somehow, this news had stopped Gromit from shaking, so he got back on its paws and walked up to the angels. He picked up a stick and poked one of the angels with it.

"Oh, he's got his confidence back." Rose said.

I know, it seems strange that I'd know the word "confidence" back then, but that's what you get from watching superhero shows. But to me, despite having witnessed the sudden appearance of moving statues, it was still weird to see a dog being able to pick up anything.

Both Wallace and Gromit kept on doing... whatever they felt like doing with these angels, while Rose started talking to me.

"Do you _ _ _ what we found out?" she asked.

Assuming she said "realize", I shook my head.

"There aren't any ghosts in this house at all! They're just living statues!" she answered her own question.

"I don't think people will believe that instead of ghosts." I replied, just when I heard Wallace play "peek-a-boo" with those angels again.

"No." Rose agreed, "But, that could still be our little secret."

I scoffed: "We don't really know each other, and already we have a secret."

Rose smiled: "Make that two secrets!"

I didn't understand: "Two?"

"You still haven't told me your name." Rose replied.

"Oh yes, that's true." I replied.

It was about the only thing I could say. This was the third time that night she asked me. It's not that I didn't want to tell her my name, it's just that something always came up that prevented me from telling her.

I was about to tell her, when we suddenly heard a short bark.

"What was that?" Rose wondered.

It was then that I realized how quiet it was around us. It was as if Gromit's short bark caused Wallace to stop talking. We both turned to look, and noticed that both Wallace and Gromit had disappeared, and the angels themselves had turned their attention to us. Both of us were shaking, even though we knew that they wouldn't move as long as we kept our eyes on them. Suddenly, we heard a creaking of floor boards, coming from upstairs. Out of reflex, we both looked up, but then I realized that in looking up, we weren't looking at the angels right in front of us. So I looked back at them, and somehow, within that split second, they were within two meters of us.

"Rose; can you keep looking upstairs?" I asked her.

I could see Rose nodding in the corner of my eye. I tried to walk backwards, opening the front door behind me. Having done so, I grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her outside with me.

As soon as we were outside, we still kept our eyes on the house for as long as we could, and once we were only a few meters away from the front gate, we started to run as fast as we could. Once we made it back to my host family's house, we could stop running and try to catch our breaths again.

"Did they follow us?" I asked.

"No, I think we're good." she answered.

"What do you think happened to Wallace and Gromit?" I wondered.

"How should I know?" Rose replied, "What made me the expert on living statues?"

Since she got angry, I apologized, which she accepted. I was about to ask if she thinks there were more of these living statues, but given her outburst, I thought better of it.

"So... now what?" I asked.

She didn't answer, so I guessed she didn't know what either.

"I have to get up early tomorrow." I told her.

Rose only nodded, then walked away. I suppose, after having gone through something like this, there wasn't much either of us could say. Not anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

Can't say that I remember much of the days that followed. I remember seeing many of London's landmarks, I remember long walks, I remember getting mad with some (if not all) of my fellow students. But I don't particularly remember having much fear for statues. Maybe that's because either there weren't that many statues in or around London. Safe for those wax statues in that museum, naturally. Either that, or since those angels couldn't move for as long as somebody was looking at them, it is possible that even if there were any other such things, they couldn't move for so long as there were tourists having their eyes fixed upon them. Maybe I found comfort in that, I don't know.

Eventually, Thursday came about. It was our final day in England, so we were all packing up, loading the busses,... all getting ready to go home. At least after we visited some other landmarks on our way there. It was that morning that I saw Rose again.

"Hey! You!" I immediately recognized the voice.

Although I was still in the middle of putting my baggage on the bus, I still turned to look at Rose. As fast as I could, I put my baggage on the bus, then ran to her.

"Rose? How did you know I was here?" I asked.

Rose explained that her friend told me I'd be on this very spot today: "She told me it's your last day."

"Yeah." I sighed, which even I find to be funny, considering what we had been through, "Come to say goodbye?"

"Not only that." she replied, "Remember Wallace and Gromit? They're okay!"

I needed a minute to realize who she was talking about: "That man and his dog from... you know when?"

"Yeah!" she answered, "It seems those... things don't just make you disappear, they send you back in time."

I needed another minute to process that thought: "What?"

"I know! How weird is that?" Rose replied, "They can't move when you look at them, and they make you travel through time when they touch you."

"Wait." I was missing something here, "If Wallace and Gromit are... back in time, how do you know it?"

"Funny story, really." Rose replied, "My mum and I were in town, we passed by window cleaners, and I was like 'oh my god, it's them'. So I ran up to them, asked them what happened. And so they told me that the angels sent them into the sixties, and once they realized where and when they were, which by the looks of how Gromit reacted was a very long time, they built themselves a time machine, and traveled back."

She also mentioned something about Piranha's being active during those years, but since I had no idea what she meant by that, and I still don't for that matter, I'm not sure about the context in which she mentioned it.

"Wow... that's..." I didn't know what to say.

"I know, isn't that incredible?" she replied.

Incredible indeed. I wasn't sure if she was just telling herself stories so to make herself feel better about the situation. Then again, having seen little blue people when I was a child, and suddenly statues that can only move when not looked upon, it does make you wonder what else is possible. So I didn't go too deep into her story.

"Well, thanks for telling me." was all I could say.

"You're welcome." she said, "So now you're leaving?"

I guess this was the moment when I did understand the appeal of sharing a secret. It created a bond between us. As such, it meant that I actually managed to make a friend. My very first real friend, and she lived just across the Channel. My life back was... well wasn't much of one. Like I said before, I hated my schoolmates, my family wasn't at all very loving, and life in general was quite dull. Maybe that's why I didn't think much about those angels. I mean, it was after all the first time ever that I went through some real adventure. The kind of adventure you only read about in comics, or watch on your TV-screen. In many ways, it was a pity that I would leave.

"Yeah." I said, "Though I really wish I wouldn't."

I don't remember Rose's exact words, but I do remember the face she made and the tone she used. Almost like she wished I could stay too.

"Oh! You know what?" she suddenly lit up, "You have a pen and paper?"

Since this was a school fieldtrip, of course I would have pen and paper with me. So I opened my backpack to take out exactly that, and give it to her. She tore the paper into two pieces. On one piece she wrote her name, address and phone number, and I did the same on my own piece of paper.

"So we can stay in touch." she smiled as she said that.

"That would be nice." was the best answer I could give.

So with that, we said our goodbyes, I got on the bus, and I left. Naturally there were some people asking me who "that girl" was and what she wanted me for, but for several reasons, even if we didn't have that little experience together, I didn't want to answer them.


	8. Chapter 8

After telling the whole story to the Doctor, all he did was nod. He seemed to need a few minutes to say anything at all in reply.

"I would say you've been lucky." he said, "Not too many people see Weeping Angels and... well, live."

I didn't understand what the Doctor meant by that, which he could tell from my face, so he explained: "We call them Weeping Angels because, as you've noticed, they can't move unless nobody is looking. They can't even look at each other, so they cover their own eyes most of the time. So to the observer, it would look like they're weeping."

"I see." I replied, "And what do you mean about killing? You mean they would have ripped us to shreds if they caught us?"

The Doctor laughed: "Goodness, no. They would have sent you into the past. In so doing, you'd be dead by the time you're born."

This I still didn't understand: "Why would they do that?"

"It's because they live off of potential energy." the Doctor explained, "Think of it as living your life if you weren't caught. That's the energy they live on."

"Oh." I said, although I'm still not sure I fully understand how that's supposed to work. Still, hearing this meant that Rose wasn't making her story up, and that the Angels indeed did send them back into the past. This also made me question something else: "Makes me wonder how they fed themselves on Wallace and Gromit."

"If what your friend said is true and they did travel back to their own time, then there wasn't enough for those Angels to feed themselves on." the Doctor replied, "Maybe that's why they didn't follow you. They were too weak."

"Must be." I said, although him mentioning my friend (i.e. Rose) made me remember something else, which made me sigh deeply.

"Are you sad you survived?" the Doctor asked.

Should I tell the Doctor this much, I wondered? Why not? I had shared him everything else so far: "You remember Rose and I exchanging our addresses?"

"Yes." the Doctor did indeed, "How did that go?"

"Well... almost as soon as I got home from that fieldtrip, I ended up in an argument with my mother."

"What about?" the Doctor asked.

"Something stupid, really." I answered, "But that's not important. What it comes down to is that she was angry with me for days on in."

"That long?" the Doctor was genuinely surprised, "And I thought only the Daleks could hold such a grudge."

I vaguely remember him mentioning the word "Dalek" before, but I still didn't know what that meant. But to be sure I wouldn't lose my train of thought, I didn't ask him, and continued the story: "It was long enough for a letter from Rose to arrive in my mailbox. In order to punish me, my mother tore up that letter and threw it away."

The Doctor then understood: "So you did end up telling her your name after all."

Was the Doctor such a champion at completely missing the point, I asked myself? Anyway, I continued: "Since I never knew what she wrote in that letter, I couldn't reply to her. Not to mention that if I called her, it would end up on our phone bill, so my parents would find out... I think you see the problem now."

"Ah yes." the Doctor replied, "You couldn't risk getting yourself into any more trouble."

"But..." I continued, "... this way I never really stayed in contact with Rose, so... who knows what she thinks of me now. Maybe she hates me now, because I didn't stay in touch with her."

"So you finally had a friend, but it couldn't last." the Doctor now fully understood my problem.

Suddenly, a solution came to me: "Say... since I now have a time machine at my disposal..."

"Oh no!" the Doctor exclaimed, "If you're thinking what I think you are..."

"Doc." I interrupted, "I've read enough books about time traveling to know about paradoxes. What I want is to go back, find the letter, so I can reply to Rose. But in that same reply, I would explain my situation to her, telling her to not send me anything, or even call me. Not until she hears from me again, anyway. Which she obviously won't, but at least she'll have an idea as to why."

The Doctor was thinking about that: "Sounds reasonable enough. Very well, I'll send you back. What day was this?"

I didn't remember the exact date. However, I did remember the year, and that it was a week where we had the Thursdays and Friday's off, so that narrowed it down a little. Also, since the Tardis would be unnoticeable for my family, we could stake out for as long as necessary, until I saw my mother throw the letter away. All we had to do next was wait for everyone to leave that room, quickly take the letter out of the garbage, puzzle the pieces back together so I could read the letter. Then I could write my reply. I told the Doctor to take me to a few days later, so it would make sense if the letter arrived late (as I would have to have had the perfect opportunity to post this letter). So now I have this one unfinished business... well, finished.

**THE END**


End file.
